Episode 8 (Season 3, BorN)
"I'll rescue Asia!" '''is the eighth episode of the third season of the ''High School DxD ''anime. It aired on May 23, 2015. '''Summary The Gremory group arrived at the temple where Diodora was holding Asia hostage. Diodora then proceeded to inform the Gremory group that despite the interruption of the Rating Game by Khaos Brigade's attack, he still intends to have them fight against his servants as earlier planned, a deal which Rias readily accepts in order to ensure Asia's safety. When the battle commences, Rias' plan was to split her team into two groups, having the first group, comprising of Issei, Gasper, Xenovia, and Koneko, engage all of Diodora's Pawns, which were all promoted to Queen, and his two Rooks, whilst the second group consisting of herself, Akeno and Kiba engage and take out Diodora's Queen alongside his two Bishops. Initially, Issei leads the assault, using Dress Break from get go. But, unfortunately, when Diodora reveals that having anticipated Issei's Dress Break beforehand, he has placed a seal on his servants to prevent them from being embarrassed, Issei's signature attack not only fails but backfires as it results in him losing his own concentration instead. Being forced on the defensive, Issei remembers the moment that he shared with Akeno, and decides to test out a gambit when he decides to utilize his newly created, Pailingual, a technique that allows him to hear the voices of the girl's breasts, to predict enemy movements. Using the information he therein received using his new technique, Issei is able to guide Gasper accurately, allowing him to freeze the enemies in time, for Koneko to take them down. Xenovia, meanwhile, faces off against both of Diodora's Rooks by herself, simultaneously destroying them both when she unleashes a combination attack with both her Durandal and Ascalon. However, not everything is going well for the Gremory group as both Rias and Akeno experience trouble while fighting against Diodora's Queen and his two Bishops, due to the fact that while the Queen, herself, isn't much powerful; she is being constantly rejuvenated by the two Bishops with potent healing magic. However, Koneko, having an idea about how to end the stalemate, gets Issei to call Akeno and tell her that he's willing to take her out on a date next week only if she manages to eliminate the enemy Queen. This idea eventually pays off as a petty argument between Akeno and Rias breaks out, resulting in both of them annihilating the enemy forces simultaneously, when they dare to interrupt their argument. The Gremory group, however, finds it odd that Diodora would hold back his two Knights as his personal guard, until it is revealed that their next opponent is Freed Sellzen. However, instead of having been reincarnated as either of Diodora's Knights, Freed claims that he ate them both, revealing his newly acquired status as a Chimera, an "upgrade" by his new allies in the Khaos Brigade gave him after Kiba nearly killed him in their last encounter. Afterwards, Freed gruesomely transforms into his new form, claiming that he's invincible in this state. Additionally, he explains the full history behind Diodora unhealthy obsession over Asia. Diodora's entire peerage consists of various Nuns and Holy Maidens, who he personally had seduced, leading to their excommunication by the Church. After they had lost their faith, he kidnapped them, raped them both physically and mentally, before forcibly making them his servants, essentially turning them into his personal playthings. One day, Diodora encountered a nun that was just his "type" with a potent healing ability, Asia. But because Asia was so heavily guarded, he couldn't simply kidnap or seduce her like he did with the others. So instead, he decided to fatally injure himself just so that he could get Asia to heal him and get seen doing it. After that he had intended to scoop up Asia personally but as it turned out Grigori had their eyes on her as well. Aware of Raynare's plans to take Asia's Twilight Healing for herself, he simply intended to kill her and revive Asia using one of his Evil Pieces. What Diodora didn't anticipate was Issei's unexpected victory against Raynare, or the fact that Rias would revive her herself. Having had enough of Freed talking nonsense Kiba engages him, killing him in seconds. Once Freed is dead the group moves on to Diodora. Arriving at the place Diodora is holding Asia hostage, Diodora reveals that he has already told Asia the whole story, and intends to sink her further into depression by killing her friends in front of her and then raping her as she calls out Issei's name. Despite Diodora's boasts that he comes from the same bloodline as one of the current Satans, Ajuka Beelzebub, and has consumed one of Ophis' snakes, therefore granting him huge levels of power, an enraged Issei enters his Balance Breaker and easily beats up Diodora, warning him to stay away from Asia, or he'll kill him next time. Issei, then, attempts to break the contraption that is restraining Asia to which Diodora reveals that the contraption restraining Asia was a creation of a Longinus user and is designed to destroy her in the event of his defeat. Issei, however, concentrates all of his power into a single Dress Break attack and destroys both Asia's restraints, along with her clothes, thus freeing her in the process. Finally, relieved to be in the safety and company of her friends, Asia requests for a chance to pray before they head finally home. However, as Asia prays that she be allowed to stay with Issei forever, she is encased in a bright white light and suddenly disappears. Stats Original airdate: May 23, 2015 Written by: Tetsuya Yanagisawa Featured Characters Important Notes Quotes Trivia Differences between Light Novel and Anime *In the Light Novel, the Gremory group fought in the group battles one at a time. Additionally, the fight against Freed was counted as a separate fight. In the anime, these two were combined into the same event. *In the Light Novel, the device holding Asia was designed to weaponize her sacred gear by amplifying and reversing it, creating a damaging aura that would kill everyone within the confines of the game field and the VIP section. However, in the anime, it seems that the device holding Asia was simply a gift for Diodora and was meant to kill her in the event of his defeat, instead. *In the anime, Issei "uses" Pailingual for the first time against Diodora's pieces, while in the Light Novel, Issei uses it during the rating game against the Sitri group. Miscellaneous Trivia * In the broadcast dub, Xenovia makes a reference to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by quoting said series's tagline. External Links Navigation Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes Category:Anime Category:Media